Since Jim and Alec can’t post today due to ECM attack on RPS’ Bath headquarters (apparently), it strikes me as a good time to get this out of the world. When I was chatting to the Mucky Foot guys for the retrospective feature I wrote about them at the Escapist, Guy Simmons forwarded me a grab of their prototype of ER Tycoon (Mucky Gary Carr being an architect of Theme Hospital, of course). The story of why it didn’t happen is in the main article, but shots of games that never made it – in fact, were never even announced – are always sad things for me. Little snippets of alternative history…

Thanks to Guy for sharing. Of course, if there’s any Devs who’d like to drag something from the vault, our doors are always open. Metaphorically, obv. Burgulars, stay clear.

Why do they insist on calling these games “Tycoon”? I think most reviews they get back would tell them it’s like calling your restaurant “McSomethings”. I’m just saying it doesn’t imply fine Scottish cuisine.

Rob,
I have my suspicions that Ryan is a spambot. Either that, or a lonely fellow with nothing better to do than attach a link to his web site to inane comments on every article here.

It’s always sad to read about canceled games. It’s easy to get wistful thinking of all the brilliant things that could have been. But seeing a screenshot? That’s just an odd curiosity, like seeing a picture of a deleted scene from a movie. Maybe it’s because one screen doesn’t look that much different from the next. There’s no context, so it’s not as meaningful.

Still interesting to see, though. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen an entire news story devoted to a screenshot of a long-canceled game. Another RPS first?

Actually it wasn’t so much cancelled, more a case that we couldn’t get anyone to sign it :-)

Also, the reason it looks so much like Startopia is because I only had 3 weeks to produce a prototype & so re-used the startopia engine. I also got the artist to reskin the aliens to make them look like hospital staff & patients :-)

With a patent, there are only two parties who are “true believers” about the patent. The inventor is a true believer, because he has spent a lot of time contemplating the possibilities. The other true believer is the marketing company, but their belief is a cynical one, presented only to lure the inventor into costy sucker traps.